Managing access credentials for a service provider

ABSTRACT

A computing device includes a memory and one or more processors coupled to the memory. The memory contains machine readable medium storing machine executable code which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: identify a service provider providing services or information to at least one of a plurality of organizations having access to a multi-tenant database system provided by a first party; establish an account for the service provider at a hosted service system, the hosted service system provided by a third party that is different from the first party providing the multi-tenant database system, the account for maintaining access credentials for the at least one of the plurality of organizations to the service provider&#39;s services or information, wherein the access credentials are not maintained at the multi-tenant database system; and using the credentials, authenticate the at least one of a plurality of organizations for access to the service provider&#39;s services or information through the multi-tenant database system. In some embodiments, the one or more processors create login credentials for the account and transmit the login credentials to the service provider so that the service provider may access the account.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to database systems, and morespecifically to a system and method for managing and using accesscredentials for a service provider.

BACKGROUND

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not beassumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in thebackground section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the backgroundsection or associated with the subject matter of the background sectionshould not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the priorart.

Computer and software development is evolving away from theclient-server model toward network-based processing systems that provideaccess to data and services via the Internet or other networks. Incontrast to traditional systems that host networked applications ondedicated server hardware, a “cloud” computing model allows applicationsto be provided over the network “as a service” supplied by aninfrastructure provider. The infrastructure provider typically abstractsthe underlying hardware and other resources used to deliver auser-developed application so that a user (e.g., consumer of cloud-basedservices) no longer needs to operate and support dedicated serverhardware. The cloud computing model can often provide substantial costsavings to the user over the life of the application because the user nolonger needs to provide dedicated network infrastructure, electrical andtemperature controls, physical security and other logistics in supportof dedicated server hardware.

A cloud platform (i.e., a computing platform for cloud computing) may beemployed by many users to store, manage, and process data using a sharednetwork of remote servers. Users may develop applications on the cloudplatform to handle the storage, management, and processing of data. Insome cases, the cloud platform may utilize a multi-tenant databasesystem. Users may access the cloud platform using various user devices(e.g., desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, or othercomputing systems, etc.). In one example, the cloud platform may supportcustomer relationship management (CRM) solutions. This may includesupport for sales, service, marketing, community, analytics,applications, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example environment whereinsystems and methods for managing and using access credentials for aservice provider may be incorporated or employed according to someembodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of another example environmentaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a system for managing and usingaccess credentials for a service provider according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a system for establishing anaccount with a hosted web service system for managing and using accesscredentials according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of another system for establishing anaccount with a hosted web service system for managing and using accesscredentials according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a method for managing and using accesscredentials for a service provider according to some embodiments.

In the figures, elements having the same designations have the same orsimilar functions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This description and the accompanying drawings that illustrate aspects,embodiments, implementations, or applications should not be taken aslimiting—the claims define the protected invention. Various mechanical,compositional, structural, electrical, and operational changes may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of this description andthe claims. In some instances, well-known circuits, structures, ortechniques have not been shown or described in detail as these are knownto one skilled in the art. Like numbers in two or more figures representthe same or similar elements.

In this description, specific details are set forth describing someembodiments consistent with the present disclosure. Numerous specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofthe embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the artthat some embodiments may be practiced without some or all of thesespecific details. The specific embodiments disclosed herein are meant tobe illustrative but not limiting. One skilled in the art may realizeother elements that, although not specifically described here, arewithin the scope and the spirit of this disclosure. In addition, toavoid unnecessary repetition, one or more features shown and describedin association with one embodiment may be incorporated into otherembodiments unless specifically described otherwise or if the one ormore features would make an embodiment non-functional.

Overview

As various companies and organizations have moved away from maintainingtheir own dedicated computer networks to a cloud-based model where someother provider supplies the necessary computer infrastructure, users atsuch companies/organizations may desire to gain access to information orservices from multiple service providers in an integrated manner. Forexample, an organization might prefer to obtain customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) resources from one service provider (e.g.,salesforce.com) but obtain competitive intelligence information fromanother vendor or service provider (e.g., Dun & Bradstreet orInsideView). In some circumstances (e.g., where concerns about securityexist, such as, risk of or exposure to system breaches), it may not bepossible or desirable to host the services and information of variousservice providers at a single cloud site. Systems and methods are thusprovided for managing access credentials for a service provider at onehosted service system for use in obtaining or gaining access to thatservice provider's services or information through another hostedservice system, where the party operating the first hosted servicesystem is different from the party operating the second hosted servicesystem.

Example Environment

The system of the present disclosure can include, incorporate, oroperate in conjunction with or in the environment of a multi-tentcloud-based architecture.

Multi-tenant cloud-based architectures have been developed to improvecollaboration, integration, and community-based cooperation betweencustomer tenants without sacrificing data security. Generally speaking,multi-tenancy refers to a system where a single hardware and softwareplatform simultaneously supports multiple user groups (also referred toas “organizations” or “tenants”) from a common data storage element(also referred to as a “multi-tenant database”). The multi-tenant designprovides a number of advantages over conventional server virtualizationsystems. First, the multi-tenant platform operator can often makeimprovements to the platform based upon collective information from theentire tenant community. Additionally, because all users in themulti-tenant environment execute applications within a common processingspace, it is relatively easy to grant or deny access to specific sets ofdata for any user within the multi-tenant platform, thereby improvingcollaboration and integration between applications and the data managedby the various applications. The multi-tenant architecture thereforeallows convenient and cost effective sharing of similar applicationfeatures between multiple sets of users.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example environment 110 whereinsystems and methods for managing and using access credentials for aservice provider might be employed, and which may be used to implementembodiments described herein. Environment 110 may include user systems112, network 114, system 116, processor system 117, application platform118, network interface 120, tenant data storage 122, system data storage124, program code 126, and process space 128 for executing databasesystem processes and tenant-specific processes, such as runningapplications as part of an application hosting service. In otherembodiments, environment 110 may not have all of the components listedand/or may have other elements instead of, or in addition to, thoselisted above.

In some embodiments, the environment 110 is an environment in which anon-demand database service exists. A user system 112 may be any machineor system that is used by a user to access a database user system. Forexample, any of user systems 112 can be a handheld computing device, amobile phone, a laptop computer, a notepad computer, a work station,and/or a network of computing devices. As illustrated in FIG. 1 (and inmore detail in FIG. 2) user systems 112 might interact via a network 114with an on-demand database service, which is system 116.

An on-demand database service, such as that which can be implementedusing the system 116, is a service that is made available to usersoutside of the enterprise(s) that own, maintain or provide access to thesystem 116. As described above, such users do not need to necessarily beconcerned with building and/or maintaining the system 116. Instead,resources provided by the system 116 may be available for such users'use when the users need services provided by the system 116—e.g., on thedemand of the users. Some on-demand database services may storeinformation from one or more tenants stored into tables of a commondatabase image to form a multi-tenant database system (MTS).Accordingly, the “on-demand database service 116” and the “system 116”will be used interchangeably herein. The term “multi-tenant databasesystem” can refer to those systems in which various elements of hardwareand software of a database system may be shared by one or more customersor tenants. For example, a given application server may simultaneouslyprocess requests for a great number of customers, and a given databasetable may store rows of data such as feed items for a potentially muchgreater number of customers. A database image may include one or moredatabase objects. A relational data base management system (RDBMS) orthe equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information againstthe data base object(s).

The application platform 118 may be a framework that allows theapplications of system 116 to run, such as the hardware and/or softwareinfrastructure, e.g., the operating system. In an embodiment, on-demanddatabase service 116 may include an application platform 118 thatenables creating, managing, and executing one or more applicationsdeveloped by the provider of the on-demand database service, usersaccessing the on-demand database service via user systems 112, or thirdparty application developers accessing the on-demand database servicevia user systems 112.

The users of user systems 112 may differ in their respective capacities,and the capacity of a particular user system 112 might be entirelydetermined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. Forexample, where a salesperson is using a particular user system 112 tointeract with system 116, that user system has the capacities allottedto that salesperson. However, while an administrator is using that usersystem 112 to interact with system 116, that user system 112 has thecapacities allotted to that administrator. In systems with ahierarchical role model, users at one permission level may have accessto applications, data, and database information accessible by a lowerpermission level user, but may not have access to certain applications,database information, and data accessible by a user at a higherpermission level. Thus, different users will have different capabilitieswith regard to accessing and modifying application and databaseinformation, depending on a user's security or permission level.

The network 114 is any network or combination of networks of devicesthat communicate with one another. For example, the network 114 can beany one or any combination of a local area network (LAN), wide areanetwork (WAN), telephone network, wireless network, point-to-pointnetwork, star network, token ring network, hub network, or otherappropriate configuration. As the most common type of computer networkin current use is a transfer control protocol and Internet protocol(TCP/IP) network, such as the global inter network of networks oftenreferred to as the “Internet” with a capital “I” that network will beused in many of the examples herein. However, it should be understoodthat the networks that the present invention might use are not solimited, although TCP/IP is a frequently implemented protocol.

The user systems 112 might communicate with system 116 using TCP/IP and,at a higher network level, use other common Internet protocols tocommunicate. Such as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), file transferprotocol (FTP), Andrew file system (AFS), wireless application protocol(WAP), etc. In an example where HTTP is used, user system 112 mightinclude an HTTP client commonly referred to as a “browser” for sendingand receiving HTTP messages to and from an HTTP server at system 116.Such an HTTP server might be implemented as the sole network interfacebetween system 116 and network 114, but other techniques might be usedas well or instead. In some implementations, the interface betweensystem 116 and network 114 includes load sharing functionality, such asround-robin HTTP request distributors to balance loads and distributeincoming HTTP requests evenly over a plurality of servers. At least forthe users that are accessing that server, each of the plurality ofservers has access to the MTS data; however, other alternativeconfigurations may be used instead.

In some embodiments, the system 116, shown in FIG. 1, implements aweb-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. For example, inone embodiment, system 116 includes application servers configured toimplement and execute CRM software applications as well as providerelated data, code, forms, webpages and other information to and fromuser systems 112 and to store to, and retrieve from, a database systemrelated data, objects, and web page content. With a multi-tenant system,data for multiple tenants may be stored in the same physical databaseobject. However, tenant data typically is arranged so that data of onetenant is kept logically separate from that of other tenants so that onetenant does not have access to another tenant's data, unless such datais expressly shared. In certain embodiments, the system 116 implementsapplications other than, or in addition to, a CRM application. Forexample, system 16 may provide tenant access to multiple hosted(standard and custom) applications, including a CRM application. User(or third party developer) applications, which may or may not includeCRM, may be supported by the application platform 118, which managescreation, storage of the applications into one or more database objects,and executing of the applications in a virtual machine in the processspace of the system 116.

One arrangement for elements of the system 116 is shown in FIG. 1,including the network interface 120, the application platform 118, thetenant data storage 122 for tenant data 123, the system data storage 124for system data 125 accessible to system 116 and possibly multipletenants, the program code 126 for implementing various functions of thesystem 116, and the process space 128 for executing MTS system processesand tenant-specific processes, such as running applications as part ofan application hosting service. Additional processes that may execute onsystem 116 include database indexing processes.

Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 1 include conventional,well-known elements that are explained only briefly here. For example,each of the user systems 112 could include a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, notepad computer, PDA, cell phone, or any wirelessaccess protocol (WAP) enabled device or any other computing devicecapable of interfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or othernetwork connection. Each of the user systems 112 typically runs an HTTPclient, e.g., a browsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorerbrowser, Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's browser, or a WAP-enabledbrowser in the case of a cell phone, notepad computer, PDA or otherwireless device, or the like, allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of themulti-tenant database system) of the user systems 112 to access,process, and view information, pages, and applications available to itfrom the system 116 over the network 114. Each of the user systems 112also typically includes one or more user interface devices, such as akeyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen, pen or the like,for interacting with a graphical user interface (GUI) provided by thebrowser on a display (e.g., a monitor screen, liquid crystal display(LCD) monitor, light emitting diode (LED) monitor, organic lightemitting diode (OLED) monitor, etc.) in conjunction with pages, forms,applications, and other information provided by the system 116 or othersystems or servers. For example, the user interface device can be usedto access data and applications hosted by system 116, and to performsearches on stored data, and otherwise allow a user to interact withvarious GUI pages that may be presented to a user. As discussed above,embodiments are suitable for use with the Internet, which refers to aspecific global internetwork of networks. However, it should beunderstood that other networks can be used instead of the Internet, suchas an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), anon-TCP/IP based network, any LAN or WAN or the like.

According to one embodiment, each of the user systems 112 and all of itscomponents are operator configurable using applications, such as abrowser, including computer code run using a central processing unitsuch as an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly, system 116(and additional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) andall of their components might be operator configurable usingapplication(s) including computer code to run using a central processingunit such as the processor system 117, which may include an IntelPentium® processor or the like, and/or multiple processor units. Acomputer program product embodiment includes a machine-readable storagemedium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be usedto program a computer to perform any of the processes of the embodimentsdescribed herein. Computer code for operating and configuring the system116 to intercommunicate and to process webpages, applications and otherdata and media content as described herein are preferably downloaded andstored on a hard disk, but the entire program code, or portions thereof,may also be stored in any other volatile or non-volatile memory mediumor device as is well known, such as a read only memory (ROM) orrandom-access memory (RAM), or provided on any media capable of storingprogram code, such as any type of rotating media including floppy disks,optical discs, digital versatile disk (DVD), compact disk (CD),microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or optical cards,nanosystems (including molecular memory integrated circuits (ICs)), orany type of media or device suitable for storing instructions and/ordata. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof, may betransmitted and downloaded from a software source over a transmissionmedium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another server, as is wellknown, or transmitted over any other conventional network connection asis well known (e.g., extranet, virtual private network (VPN), LAN, etc.)using any communication medium and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS,Ethernet, etc.) as are well known. It will also be appreciated thatcomputer code for implementing embodiments of the present invention canbe implemented in any programming language that can be executed on aclient system and/or server or server system such as, for example, C,C++, HTML, any other markup language, Java™, JavaScript, ActiveX, anyother scripting language, such as VBScript, and many other programminglanguages as are well known may be used. (Java™ is a trademark of SunMicroSystems, Inc.).

According to one embodiment, the system 116 is configured to providewebpages, forms, applications, data and media content to the user(client) systems 112 to support the access by the user systems 112 astenants of the system 116. As such, the system 116 provides securitymechanisms to keep each tenant's data separate unless the data isshared. If more than one MTS is used, they may be located in closeproximity to one another (e.g., in a server farm located in a singlebuilding or campus), or they may be distributed at locations remote fromone another (e.g., one or more servers located in city A and one or moreservers located in city B). As used herein, each MTS could include oneor more logically and/or physically connected servers distributedlocally or across one or more geographic locations. Additionally, theterm “server” is meant to include a computer system, includingprocessing hardware and process space(s), and an associated storagesystem and database application (e.g., object oriented data basemanagement system (OODBMS) or rational database management system(RDBMS)) as is well known in the art. It should also be understood that“server system” and “server” are often used interchangeably herein.Similarly, the database object described herein can be implemented assingle databases, a distributed database, a collection of distributeddatabases, a database with redundant online or offline backups or otherredundancies, etc., and might include a distributed database or storagenetwork and associated processing intelligence.

FIG. 2 also illustrates the environment 110, which may be used toimplement embodiments described herein. FIG. 2 further illustrateselements of system 116 and various interconnections, according to someembodiments. FIG. 2 shows that each of the user systems 112 may includea processor system 112A, a memory system 112B, an input system 112C, andan output system 112D. FIG. 2 shows the network 114 and the system 116.FIG. 2 also shows that the system 116 may include the tenant datastorage 122, the tenant data 123, the system data storage 124, thesystem data 125, a user interface (UI) 230, an application programinterface (API) 232, a PL/Salesforce.com object query language (PL/SOQL)234, save routines 236, an application setup mechanism 238, applicationsservers 200 ₁-200 _(N), a system process space 202, tenant processspaces 204, a tenant management process space 210, a tenant storage area212, a user storage 214, and application metadata 216. In otherembodiments, environment 110 may not have the same elements as thoselisted above and/or may have other elements instead of, or in additionto, those listed above.

The user systems 112, the network 114, the system 116, the tenant datastorage 122, and the system data storage 124 were discussed above inFIG. 1. Regarding the user systems 112, the processor system 112A may beany combination of one or more processors. The memory system 112B may beany combination of one or more memory devices, short term, and/or longterm memory. The input system 112C may be any combination of inputdevices, such as one or more keyboards, mice, trackballs, scanners,cameras, and/or interfaces to networks. The output system 112D may beany combination of output devices, such as one or more monitors,printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown in FIG. 2, the system116 may include the network interface 120 (of FIG. 1) implemented as aset of HTTP application servers 200, the application platform 118, thetenant data storage 122, and the system data storage 124. Also shown issystem process space 202, including individual tenant process spaces 204and the tenant management process space 210. Each application server 200may be configured to access tenant data storage 122 and the tenant data123 therein, and the system data storage 124 and the system data 125therein to serve requests of the user systems 112. The tenant data 123might be divided into individual tenant storage areas 212, which can beeither a physical arrangement and/or a logical arrangement of data.Within each tenant storage area 212, the user storage 214 and theapplication metadata 216 might be similarly allocated for each user. Forexample, a copy of a user's most recently used (MRU) items might bestored to the user storage 214. Similarly, a copy of MRU items for anentire organization that is a tenant might be stored to the tenantstorage area 212. The UI 230 provides a user interface and the API 232provides an application programmer interface to the system 116 residentprocesses and to users and/or developers at the user systems 112. Thetenant data and the system data may be stored in various databases, suchas one or more Oracle™ databases.

The application platform 118 includes an application setup mechanism 238that supports application developers' creation and management ofapplications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage122 by the save routines 236 for execution by subscribers as one or moretenant process spaces 204 managed by the tenant management process 210,for example. Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL234 that provides a programming language style interface extension tothe API 232. Some embodiments of PL/SOQL language are discussed infurther detail in U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478, filed Sep. 21, 2007,entitled, “Method and System For Allowing Access to DevelopedApplications Via a Multi-Tenant On-Demand Database Service,” which isincorporated herein by reference. Invocations to applications may bedetected by one or more system processes, which manage retrieving theapplication metadata 216 for the subscriber, making the invocation andexecuting the metadata as an application in a virtual machine.

Each application server 200 may be communicably coupled to databasesystems, e.g., having access to the system data 125 and the tenant data123, via a different network connection. For example, one applicationserver 200 ₁ might be coupled via the network 114 (e.g., the Internet),another application server 200 _(N-1) might be coupled via a directnetwork link, and another application server 200 _(N) might be coupledby yet a different network connection. Transfer Control Protocol andInternet Protocol (TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicatingbetween application servers 200 and the database system. However, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the art that other transportprotocols may be used to optimize the system depending on the networkconnection used.

In certain embodiments, each application server 200 is configured tohandle requests for any user associated with any organization that is atenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and remove applicationservers from the server pool at any time for any reason, there ispreferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization to aspecific application server 200. In one embodiment, therefore, aninterface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the applicationservers 200 and the user systems 112 to distribute requests to theapplication servers 200. In one embodiment, the load balancer uses aleast connections algorithm to route user requests to the applicationservers 200. Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as roundrobin and observed response time, also can be used. For example, incertain embodiments, three consecutive requests from the same user couldhit three different application servers 200, and three requests fromdifferent users could hit the same application server 200. In thismanner, the system 116 is multi-tenant, wherein the system 116 handlesstorage of, and access to, different objects, data and applicationsacross disparate users and organizations.

As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs asales force where each salesperson uses the system 116 to manage his orher sales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data,customer follow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data,etc., all applicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g., in thetenant data storage 122). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since allof the data and the applications to access, view, modify, report,transmit, calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a usersystem having nothing more than network access, the user can manage hisor her sales efforts and cycles from any of many different user systems.For example, if a salesperson is visiting a customer and the customerhas Internet access in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain criticalupdates as to that customer while waiting for the customer to arrive inthe lobby.

While each user's data might be separate from other users' dataregardless of the employers of each user, some data might beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users orall of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, theremight be some data structures managed by the system 116 that areallocated at the tenant level while other data structures might bemanaged at the user level. Because a MTS might support multiple tenantsincluding possible competitors, the MTS should have security protocolsthat keep data, applications, and application use separate. Also,because many tenants may opt for access to a MTS rather than maintaintheir own system, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additionalfunctions that may be implemented in the MTS. In addition touser-specific data and tenant specific data, the system 116 might alsomaintain system level data usable by multiple tenants or other data.Such system level data might include industry reports, news, postings,and the like that are sharable among tenants.

In certain embodiments, the user systems 112 (which may be clientsystems) communicate with the application servers 200 to request andupdate system-level and tenant-level data from the system 116 that mayrequire sending one or more queries to the tenant data storage 122and/or the system data storage 124. The system 116 (e.g., an applicationserver 200 in the system 116) automatically generates one or morestructured query language (SQL) statements (e.g., one or more SQLqueries) that are designed to access the desired information. The systemdata storage 124 may generate query plans to access the requested datafrom the database.

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefinedcategories. A “table” is one representation of a data object, and may beused herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and customobjects. It should be understood that “table” and “object” may be usedinterchangeably herein. Each table generally contains one or more datacategories logically arranged as columns or fields in a viewable schema.Each row or record of a table contains an instance of data for eachcategory defined by the fields. For example, a CRM database may includea table that describes a customer with fields for basic contactinformation such as name, address, phone number, fax number, etc.Another table might describe a purchase order, including fields forinformation such as customer, product, sale price, date, etc. In somemulti-tenant database systems, standard entity tables might be providedfor use by all tenants. For CRM database applications, such standardentities might include tables for Account, Contact, Lead, andOpportunity data, each containing pre-defined fields. It should beunderstood that the word “entity” may also be used interchangeablyherein with “object” and “table.”

In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to createand store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standardentities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standardobjects, including custom index fields. Systems and methods for creatingcustom objects as well as customizing standard objects in a multi-tenantdatabase system are described in further detail in U.S. Pat. No.7,779,039, filed Apr. 2, 2004, entitled “Custom Entities and Fields in aMulti-Tenant Database System,” which is incorporated herein byreference. In certain embodiments, for example, all custom entity datarows are stored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which maycontain multiple logical tables per organization. It is transparent tocustomers that their multiple “tables” are in fact stored in one largetable or that their data may be stored in the same table as the data ofother customers.

In the environment of a multi-tenant database system, such as system116, one or more of the organizations may wish to access services orinformation that are provided by various vendors or service providersthat are separate and distinct from the party operating the databasesystem. The information or services provided by such service providercan supplement or complement the services provided by the databasesystem. For example, whereas in some embodiments system 116 may providecustomer relationship management (CRM) services to the organizations,other vendors or service providers (e.g., Dun & Bradstreet orInsideView) can offer competitive intelligence information.

For an enhanced or better user experience, the organizations accessingsystem 116 might prefer to obtain or utilize the supplementary orcomplementary resources and information (provided by the other vendorsor service providers) via, and/or in conjunction with, system 116. Toaccomplish this, the various organizations might be issued or assignedrespective credentials (e.g., user name, password, security keys, accesskeys, etc.) that allow them to access these other services orinformation. In some circumstances, however, it is preferable that theparty operating the database system 116 not maintain the accesscredentials. For example, the database system 116 could be subject tohacking or security attacks, or information/data of system 116 might beexposed if it moves through public channels, thus subjecting the partyoperating the database system 116 to liability and overhead. As such,according to some embodiments, systems and methods are provided formanaging such access credentials using a hosted service system operatedby a party that is different from the one operating the database system.

Managing Access Credentials

According to some embodiments, in the environment of a multi-tenantdatabase system accessible by a plurality of organizations, such assystem 116 shown and described with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, systemsand methods are provided for managing access credentials for a serviceprovider at a hosted service system for use in obtaining or gainingaccess to that service provider's services or information through thedatabase system, where the party operating the hosted service system isdifferent from the party operating the database system.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a system 300 for managing andusing access credentials for a service provider according to someembodiments. As shown in FIG. 3, system 300 includes a database system316, a back end system 320, a service provider system 340, and a hostedservice system 360.

The database system 316 provides or supports database services. In someembodiments, database system 316 can include, incorporate, or beimplemented as a multi-tenant system 116, as shown and described withreference to FIGS. 1 and 2, which provides or supports a web-based CRMservice system for, and is accessible by, a number of organizations.Users from such organizations may interact with the database system 316using respective user systems 112 (as described with reference to FIGS.1 and 2) connected to or communicating with a front end system of thedatabase.

One or more service providers, separate from the provider operating andmaintaining the database system 316, may offer to the organizationsusing database system 316 other services or information in addition tothose provided by system 316. Such service providers can be, forexample, Dun & Bradstreet or InsideView, which offer competitiveintelligence information and services. The additional services orinformation may be supported, hosted, or maintained at a serviceprovider system 340, which is implemented with suitablehardware/software (e.g., work station, server, and/or a network ofcomputing devices, and API) for this purpose. The service providersystem 340 can be separate from the database system 316.

For a better or enhanced user experience, however, it may be desirablethat these additional services or information be made available to thevarious organizations through the database system 316. To accomplishthis, the back end system 320 integrates a service provider system 340with the database system 316. Database system 316 and back end system320 have a trusted relationship. Back end system 320 can be part of, orseparate from, database system 316. The back end system 320 providesaccess to the database system 316 for the transfer of information, data,and support that is not necessarily visible to the users interacting onthe front end. The back end system 320 includes suitablehardware/software, such as one or more servers, computers, andapplications. In some embodiments, the backend system 320 may beincorporated into the multi-tenant system 116. In some embodiments,backend system 320 may be implemented in part with a Lighting DataService, available from salesforce.com, that provides or is implementedwith one or more APIs.

To on-board the other service providers so that their services orinformation are made available to the various organizations through thedatabase system 316, the back end system 320 includes an authenticationservice module 322 and a token management module 324. Every organizationwanting to access or obtain the additional services or informationoffered by another service provider will separately authenticate withthat service provider. Authentication service module 322 supports thisauthentication, for example, by interacting with an API at serviceprovider system 340, so that the service provider can better manage theorganizations with which it may have a relationship (e.g., ascustomers). Authentication service module 322 uses token management toauthenticate with third party service providers, checks accesscredentials (such as security or encryption keys) that are assigned orissued to organizations for access to the additional services orinformation offered by the outside service provider. Afterauthentication service module 322 has authenticated a user ororganization for a service provider, the token management module 324generates tokens which are used to manage access or interaction betweendatabase system 316 and service provider system 340 for theauthenticated user/organization. The service provider system 340,through its API, fetches or obtains the tokens generated by tokenmanagement module 324. In some embodiments, these tokens are temporary,only being effective for a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 24hours). Authentication service module 322 and token management module324 thus enable service provides to control or manage the services orinformation allowed for an organization, concurrency limits (i.e., howmany users of an organization may be allowed access to the services atany given time), etc. Also, this arrangement between backend system 320and service provider system 340 will be compliant with industry standardsecurity protocols for authentication, as the backend system 320 will beauthenticating with service provider system 340 directly with no proxyin between that connection.

The hosted web service system 360 is operated or maintained by aprovider that is different from the provider operating and maintainingthe database system 316. In some embodiments, hosted web service system360 can be implemented or utilize, for example, one or more servers,computers, services, etc. of Amazon Web Services. Hosted web servicessystem 360 communicates or exchanges information and data with databasesystem 316 through backend system 320 and with service provider system340.

In some embodiments, as shown, hosted web service system 360 includes akey management service module 362, a systems manager parameter storemodule 364, and an identity and access management module 366. Keymanagement service module 362 is used to store access credentials, suchas security or encryption keys, that are used by various organizationsto access the additional services or information of outside providersvia the database system 316. In some embodiments, key management servicemodule 362 uses hardware security modules for securing the keys. Thesystems manager parameter store module 364 provides secure, hierarchicalstorage for configuration data management and secrets management. Thesystems manager parameter store module 364 may be used to storecredentials as “Secure String,” an option that may be selected, forexample, by an outside service provider. The systems manager parameterstore module 364 may be integrated with the key management servicemodule 362 and automatically encrypts all the secrets that are stored.The identity and access management module 366 controls access to thesesecrets. Neither the backend system 320 nor the database system 316 willstore the organization access credentials at all, but instead will storetemporary (not persistent) tokens

For use of the hosted web service system 360, either the provider ofdatabase system 316 or the outside service provider (offering theadditional services and information) should have an account with thehosted web service system 360.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a system 400 for establishing anaccount with a hosted web service system for managing and using accesscredentials according to some embodiments. System 400 includes databasesystem 316 and hosted web service system 360.

Database system 316 includes an interface system 410 for interfacing orcommunicating with hosted web service system 360. In some embodiments,the interface system 410 may include or incorporate backend system 320.As shown, the interface system 410 can be implemented, for example, as aclient device 420 that interacts with one or more computing devicesacting as servers at the hosted web service system 360. Client device420 facilitates coordination between outside service providers wishingto provide additional services or information to organizations accessingdatabase system 316, such providers' systems 340, and web service system360. Client device 420 runs various programs or modules that interactwith hosted web service system 360 set up, create, and/or manageaccounts, credentials, etc., for the various outside service providersand their systems 340. For example, each outside service provider willbe assigned or provided with respective login credentials (programmatic,user interface (UI), or both) to the hosted web service system 360 thatthe provider, or its respective service provider system 340, can use toenter and manage access credentials for the organizations that it servesthrough database system 316.

Hosted web service system 360 includes one or more programs or modulesthat interact with client device 420 of database system 316, or with aservice provider system 340, to set up, create, and/or manage accounts,credentials, etc. for the various outside service providers. Eachoutside service provider manages the access credentials for theorganizations with whom the provider has a relationship (e.g., as acustomer). Using the login credentials provided by database system 316,the service provider or its system 340 logs in to the hosted web servicesystem 360 at an API gateway system 464. Once logged in, the serviceprovider or system 340 can initiate or enter a serverlessfunction/specific instance 466, through which the provider or system 340can manage credentials, for example, by viewing or identifying allorganizations that are enabled for its services; adding, updating, orremoving their API credentials in the hosted web service system 360;enabling or disabling viewing of decrypted passwords.

A user creation module 462 provides, assists, or supports the creationof the access credentials, such as security keys, which can be stored ormaintained in systems manager parameter store (SMPS) module 364. In someembodiments, the access credentials can be auto-backed by serverlessfunctions in a separate availability zone/data center in the samegeographic region. This will ensure that credentials in the region willnever leave that region, but if required, but can still be configuredfor disaster recovery.

The access credentials or security keys are used to grant organizationsaccess to the additional services and information provided by theoutside service provider; they will be used by the backend system 320 toauthenticate organizations with the service provider.

An audit trail module 468 may monitor and track the activity related to,or conducted using, the access credentials, for example, to ensurecompliant with various rules, regulations, and standards, such as SOC1,SOC2, SOC3, Fed RAMP, HIPAA, etc.

Each outside service provider will have its own key management servicekey, which can be auto-generated by key management service module 362.Alternatively, the outside service provider or its system 340 uploadscredentials, which can be encrypted by a specific key management servicekey. The key management service module 362 may store or maintain theaccess credentials or key management service keys for the serviceproviders.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of another system 500 forestablishing an account with a hosted web service system for managingand using access credentials according to some embodiments. With thesystem 500 of FIG. 5, each outside service provider creates its ownaccount with the hosted web service system 360.

Operational Flow

FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a method 600 for managing and usingaccess credentials for a service provider according to some embodiments.One or more of the processes 610-650 of method 600 may be implemented,at least in part, in the form of executable code stored onnon-transitory, tangible, machine-readable media that when run by one ormore processors may cause the one or more processors to perform one ormore of the processes 610-650. In some embodiments, method 600 can beperformed by one or more computing devices in systems 300, 400, or 500of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, including the database system 316, the backend320, the service provider system 340, or the hosted web service system360. Aspects of the processes 610-650 of method 600 have been covered inthe description for FIGS. 3-5; additional aspects are provided below.

Referring to FIGS. 3, 4, and 6, at a process 610, a multi-tenantdatabase system 316 identifies a service provider that is providing, ordesires to provide, services or information to at least one of aplurality of organizations having access to the database system. Theservices or information can supplement or complement the databaseservices provided to the organizations by database system 316 itself.For example, the additional services can competitive intelligenceservices offered by service providers such as Dun & Bradstreet orInsideView. For a better or enhanced user experience, it may bedesirable that these additional services or information be madeavailable to the various organizations through the database system 316.In some embodiments, database system 316 may identify the outsideservice provider by surveying the various organizations that the system316 serves, or by surveying the service providers themselves.

At a process 620, the database system 316 establishes an account forservice provider at a hosted service system 360. To accomplish this, insome embodiments, a client 420 of database system 316 interacts with thehosted service system 360, providing information such as the identity ofthe service provider, contact information, etc. The hosted servicesystem 360 is operated or maintained by a party that is different fromparty operating or maintaining the database system 316. So that theservice provider can access the account at the hosted service system360, the database system 316 creates login credentials for the accountand transmits the same to the service provider system 340.

At a process 630, after the account has been established for the outsideservice provider, access credentials are generated for each organizationto which the service provider is providing, or desires to provide,additional services or information. In some embodiments, the serviceprovider or its system 340 provides the identity of each organization(orgId) and information about the particular services allowed orenabled, concurrency limits, etc. In response, for each organizationidentified by the service provider system 340, the user creation module462 of hosted service system 360 creates separate access credentials,for example, security or encryption keys. The access credentials areencrypted and stored in systems manager parameter store module 364.

At a process 640, the access credentials for the various organizationsare maintained at hosted service system 360. Maintaining the accesscredentials may include adding, deleting, and updating the credentials(e.g., security keys) to reflect changes in the relationships of theservice provider and the various organizations.

At a process 650, when an organization wishes to access the outsideservice provider's services or information through the database system316, the system 316 authenticates that organization via backend system320 using the respective access credentials. The database system 316sends an access request, which includes the identity of the organization(orgId), to the backend system 320 while making a match call. For thefirst call, backend system 320 obtains or retrieves credentials for thatorganization from the systems manager parameter store module 364, andauthenticates the credentials against the service provider. Uponsuccessful authentication, the organization gains access to the desiredservices or information from the service provider through databasesystem 316. The service provider or system 340 provides a session tokenwhich will work for subsequent calls, which in some embodiments, mayremain valid for a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 24 hours). Thetoken management module 324 of backend system 320 caches this sessiontoken for the organization for subsequent calls made during thepredetermined time that the token is valid. As such, the accesscredentials need not be obtained or used for every call by anorganization to obtain or access the desired additional services orinformation from the service provider. When the token needs to berefreshed, backend system 320 will again follow the same procedure ofobtaining or retrieving credentials from the hosted service system 360,authenticating them with the service provider, and caching the new tokenfor that organization. The service provider system 340 can manage thecredentials for the organizations that the respective service providerserves, so that the database system 316 is not required to do so.

In some embodiments, the account for hosted service system 360 can bemanaged or owned by the service provider system 340, and provide accessto backend system 320 while fetching the credentials. In this way,backend system 320 does not need to change any algorithm to connect toany hosted service system 360 with the account managed or owned byservice provider system 340.

Although illustrative embodiments have been shown and described, a widerange of modifications, changes and substitutions are contemplated inthe foregoing disclosure and in some instances, some features of theembodiments may be employed without a corresponding use of otherfeatures. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manyvariations, alternatives, and modifications. Thus, the scope of thepresent application should be limited only by the following claims, andit is appropriate that the claims be construed broadly and in a mannerconsistent with the scope of the embodiments disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computing device comprising: a memory containing machine readable medium storing machine executable code; one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to execute the machine executable code to cause the one or more processors to: identify, by a multi-tenant database system provided by a first party, a service provider providing services or information to at least one of a plurality of organizations having access to the multi-tenant database system; establish, by the multi-tenant database system, an account for the service provider at a hosted service system, the hosted service system provided by a third party that is different from the first party providing the multi-tenant database system, the account for maintaining access credentials for the at least one of the plurality of organizations to the service provider's services or information, wherein the access credentials are not maintained at the multi-tenant database system; send, by the multi-tenant database system and to the hosted service system, an access request including an identity of the at least one of the plurality of organizations for access to the service provider; and using the credentials from the hosted service system, authenticate, by the multi-tenant database system, the at least one of a plurality of organizations for access to the service provider's services or information through the multi-tenant database system.
 2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to create login credentials for the account and transmit the login credentials to the service provider so that the service provider may access the account.
 3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the access credentials are created by a service provider system working in conjunction with the hosted service system.
 4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the access credentials comprise a security key for the at least one organization to use to access the service provider's services or information through the multi-tenant database system.
 5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein after authenticating the at least one of a plurality of organizations, the one or more processors are further configured to receive a token from a service provider system to enable the at least one of a plurality of organizations to access the service provider's services or information through the multi-tenant database system.
 6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the access credentials are maintained in an encrypted form at the hosted service system.
 7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein after establishing an account for the service provider at a hosted service system, a service provider system creates access credentials for each organization having access to a multi-tenant database system for which the service provider provides services or information.
 8. A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions for performing a method comprising machine executable code which when executed by at least one machine, causes the machine to: identify, by a multi-tenant database system provided by a first party, a service provider providing services or information to at least one of a plurality of organizations having access to the multi-tenant database system; establish, by the multi-tenant database system, an account for the service provider at a hosted service system, the hosted service system provided by a third party that is different from the first party providing the multi-tenant database system, the account for maintaining access credentials for the at least one of the plurality of organizations to the service provider's services or information, wherein the access credentials are not maintained at the multi-tenant database system; send, by the multi-tenant database system and to the hosted service system, an access request including an identity of the at least one of the plurality of organizations for access to the service provider; and using the credentials from the hosted service system, authenticate, by the multi-tenant database system, the at least one of a plurality of organizations for access to the service provider's services or information through the multi-tenant database system.
 9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the machine is further caused to create login credentials for the account and transmit the login credentials to the service provider so that the service provider may access the account.
 10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the access credentials are created by a service provider system working in conjunction with the hosted service system.
 11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the access credentials comprise a security key for the at least one organization to use to access the service provider's services or information through the multi-tenant database system.
 12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein after authenticating the at least one of a plurality of organizations, the machine is further caused to receive a token from a service provider system to enable the at least one of a plurality of organizations to access the service provider's services or information through the multi-tenant database system.
 13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the access credentials are maintained in an encrypted form at the hosted service system.
 14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein after establishing an account for the service provider at a hosted service system, a service provider system creates access credentials for each organization having access to a multi-tenant database system for which the service provider provides services or information.
 15. A method performed by one or more processor executing machine executable code, the method comprising: identify, by a multi-tenant database system provided by a first party, a service provider providing services or information to at least one of a plurality of organizations having access to the multi-tenant database system; establish, by the multi-tenant database system, an account for the service provider at a hosted service system, the hosted service system provided by a third party that is different from the first party providing the multi-tenant database system, the account for maintaining access credentials for the at least one of the plurality of organizations to the service provider's services or information, wherein the access credentials are not maintained at the multi-tenant database system; send, by the multi-tenant database system and to the hosted service system, an access request including an identity of the at least one of the plurality of organizations for access to the service provider; and using the credentials from the hosted service system, authenticate, by the multi-tenant database system, the at least one of a plurality of organizations for access to the service provider's services or information through the multi-tenant database system.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: creating login credentials for the account; and transmitting the login credentials to the service provider so that the service provider may access the account.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the access credentials are created by a service provider system working in conjunction with the hosted service system.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein the access credentials comprise a security key for the at least one organization to use to access the service provider's services or information through the multi-tenant database system.
 19. The method of claim 15, after authenticating, further comprising receiving a token from a service provider system to enable the at least one of a plurality of organizations to access the service provider's services or information through the multi-tenant database system.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein the access credentials are maintained in an encrypted form at the hosted service system.
 21. The method of claim 15, wherein after establishing an account for the service provider at a hosted service system, a service provider system creates access credentials for each organization having access to a multi-tenant database system for which the service provider provides services or information. 